Wonderful Walnut to See and Feel

This is a scrap piece of walnut from a Live edge table that was made in my companies shop. The table was just gorgeous 8’+ of pure beauty. The table required a few keys to be put in and that only added to the over all look. There were a few scrap pieces that went to us lucky guys! I was able to get more then one piece!!! This is the first one I am posting. I still need to decide what to do with the other chunks.

I just could not take the life out of this piece by making it totally round and smooth. This piece needed to be different it has its own life. The blank had what some would call defects. But us knowing wood peoples out here know that those are characteristics and should be shown and not lost to the dust pile.

In this piece of walnut you can see several identifying layers of the tree and different natural/man made textures:1)- The Bast layer is present in picture # 1 at the bottom or edge of the bowl. Great natural groves!!! And the inspiration for the texture I added to the bottom and top faces of this bowl.2)- The Cambium is the next layer moving towards the middle of the piece.3)- The Sapwood layer4)- The Heartwood layer5)- Chain saw markings left untouched6)- Insect holes lightly cleaned out to show shape of holes7)- Two edge faces saw cut and sanded smooth

Pictures 1 & 2 show the wonderful colors. The smooth “bowl” surface shows the wood grain as does part of the bottom & 2 edge faces. The texture on the top was created by hand carving with a “v” chisel. The carved top surface was done to match the Bast layer, the chain saw texture and the bottom “hacksaw” texturing (See pics 4 & 5). Yes I used a hacksaw blade to create the texture that goes around the bottom surface. This was a challenge because of the odd shape of the blank. I was cutting air as this turned. I don’t think I could have cut this texture in any other way with the same perfect spacing.

The last pic shows the knot area , the knot was loose in the blank. I removed it because of the danger of keeping it in the piece and turning it. I could not come up with a safe way to glue it and keep it. I am glad I took it out because when it came out I saw the wonderful deep rich black color. When the piece was finished there was some extra attention paid to this knot area with more finish.

The smooth areas were sanded to 600 grit and a conversion varnish 5% sheen was on laid top.

This was a fun challenging turn and would love to know the good and the bad if you are willing to take a minute and share with me. What do you like and what do you see that I could improve on?

One last question Should I Keep This Piece or Sell It To The World?

Thanks

-- (the only thing in there she says is....tap on head..........tap..........tap..... saw dust) - James www.etsy.com/shop/ZionsWoodnCrafts